Experience, Intuition, and Techniques - Strategos International

The changing Dynamic ofExperience, Intuition, and Techniquesin context of ConflictWritten by: Ken J. GoodDec 2007ken@strategosintl.com

Experience, Intuition, & Techniques 2It’s counter-intuitive for men to place their bodies betweenhand grenades and hostages, knowing they themselves will die.Yet this is exactly what some of the soldiers of Russia did inBeslan for the hundreds of innocent school children caught ina horrendous situation at the hand of Chechnean terrorists.It’s counter-intuitive to take orders and hold your ground ina fierce battle when others are falling, and your internalprogramming is screaming out to run, run, run.Through the force of human will, training, fortitude, andself-sacrifice theses things and more are accomplished.I despise that which would undermine people of such character.From Unfamiliarity to Intuitive – It’s a Process (and it doesn’t come overnight)As a professional at arms, take the time to go over in your mind the skill sets you currently “own” so tospeak. Contemplate those things that you might be accomplishing with relative ease, quickly perceivingwhat is happening and doing what must be done with conscious thought, the very definition of intuitivebehavior.After you compile that list, note that almost everything on that list involves specific knowledge,techniques, and procedures, many of which can vary group to group. Regardless of the technique orprocedure you actually use to complete these tasks, were they all always “intuitive” to you?Did they initially “feel” right and all fall into place when you first went through the correct and acceptedprocedures as taught by the training staff? Then they were not intuitive at the time, were they?News flash here: Developing the optimal intuitive responses requires effort on your part, and in manycases specific, focused, and hard work. You are not hardwired to do many of the tasks required of youas a human being. However, you are highly adaptable and capable of a wide range of skill acquisitionand tasking given the proper knowledge and training.Try to climb Mount Everest on “intuitive techniques” and see how far you get!Moving away from the world of conflict and crisis for a moment, I would like you to travel in your mindinto your vehicle on your way to work. You position your keys without effort, slip them into ignitionwithout conscious thought, turn over the engine, slip the transmission into gear and off you go.As you leave the familiar surroundings of your own neighborhood, to merge onto the faster roadways,you settle into a routine that from your conscious point of view is actually quite easy to manage.But if you actually took the time to make a comprehensive list of the processes, the adjustments, thevisual and audio cues, the literally life and death decisions you are making moment by moment, the listwould be staggering. It’s actually a complex network of possible orientations, decisions, and actions withserious consequences for error. Yet you drive your vehicle almost everyday into the dangerous dynamic,and for the most part return home safely without incident.

3Experience, Intuition, & TechniquesIf you can think back, the first time you sat behind the wheel this was not the case. You did not innatelypossess an intuitive set of techniques to address the procedure of driving. Step-by-step and day-by-daythe individual skills required were patched together. Over time, like millions of individuals before, youhave integrated all the necessary separate processes into a seamless whole. Most of the “work” is nowdone on a sub-conscious level.Now take this same task of driving and add one on-duty police officer, or one solider, or one securitycontractor in Iraq. In addition to driving the vehicle to get from point A to point B, that person wouldbe faced with the additional processes and pressures of radio traffic, loud noises, computer displays,previous briefings and emerging intelligence, all immersed in the unrelenting pressure of having to viewyour surroundings from a perspective of predator and prey as it relates to the surroundings.When something catches your attention in many cases it is fact your “intuition” (direct perception oftruth) that is cueing this up and sets in motion your next set of decisions and potential actions.Again, was this always so? When you first started the job, did you have this “intuitive” feel for whatwas happening in your surroundings? The answer is No; there is no way you could interpret the dataand correctly analyze the complex and changing inputs like you do now. Why is that?Please review this short PowerPoint Presentation that was circulating on the Internet:http://strategosmedia.com/presentations/Stances.pptThese images of course come from actual gun battles in Liberia. Humorous, yes, but are we toencourage others we train to fight like this because these types of “intuitive” techniques and movementsare revealed in battle.I could make a powerful argument using pseudo-scientific words, leading language and statistics toencourage you to use these “intuitive” techniques.I think my point is made. It’s ludicrous to follow the do only what comes “natural” crowd. What youneed to know and execute just might involve complexity and understanding.Proper training over time leads to proficiency, period. There is NO WAY around it. If you run acrosssomebody claiming to have a wonder intuitive-approach curriculum, I would be exceptionally cautious.

Experience, Intuition, & Techniques 4“If it's intuitive, by definition, out of the gate, as it were, it's not taught. It's inherent in the body'sphysiology. Hence, this “counter-intuitive techniques” position would imply that what you are doing iscounter to what "inheres" within one's basic apparatus. This analysis is very similar to the old "instinct"proposition, e.g., that there are certain shooting positions that are "instinctual." Instinctual means thatsome given behavior is "species specific," capable of being demonstrated with maximum proficiency at bestwith no learning w/ respect to how to do the behavior and at worst, demonstrating full competency w/ onetrial to acquisition.” - Dr. Anthony SemoneLet me give you some basic practical examples that should jump right out at you:You are driving your vehicle at a fairly high rate of speed in the mountains,cliff on the outside of the corner. Suddenly your vehicle looses tractionbecause it hits a relatively small patch of “black ice”What would a brand new driver do intuitively?Answer: Intuitively grab onto the steering wheel and slam on the brakescreating further lose of traction. What would be the consequence?What would an experienced driving instructor, racecar driver or anybody whospends time on the ice do immediately and intuitively?You are learning to fly a small single engine aircraft, you are just rolling of therunway on takeoff and the plane suddenly stalls (no more lift) and begins tolose altitude.What would a brand new student pilot do?Answer: Intuitively and immediately, pull up hard on the controls in a fruitlessattempt to keep the aircraft from going down…dead in a few seconds.What would a more seasoned pilot intuitively do? Answer: Push down on thecontrols to change the angle of attack on the wings so that the aircraft would flyand not fall out-of-control to the earth. Once the aircraft is flying it can berecovered, preventing a sudden collision with the earth.What does somebody who has never been punched in the face intuitivelydo when they perceive that a threatening punch in coming their direction?Answer: Cringe and get hit anyway.What does an individual who has been trained to see and counter a punchintuitively do in the exact same situation? You get the idea.The fact of the matter is that in each and every case, the initial, predictable“intuitive” responses of inexperienced, unknowledgeable and unskilledindividuals leads to severe injury or death. But the trained, knowledgeable andskilled individuals have a much greater probability of escaping from their dangerous situations to liveanother day.

Experience, Intuition, & Techniques 6“ Veteran officers especially are experts at spotting body language signalsand verbal cues that are precursors to nefarious intent”Lt. Jim Glennon, Lomard Ill. Police DepartmentExperience and Intuition are co-partners enhancing your capabilities to prevail.Let’s take a short detour into exactly how you gain experience, as it is an interesting interplay.In some cases, you are told or shown something by someone who has done it before and lives to tellthe tale. On this basis alone they have X amount of credibility. That being said, right then and there, asthe new information is inbound, you go through an internal cross-checking/validation of what you arehearing or being shown. It goes into one of three piles; Reject, Accept, or to be Verified.The more experienced individual (the trainer) is trying to plow themental ground for you so that you (the trainee/student) don’t have towork so hard to break through the hard surface layer.Oftentimes, especially in the realm of tactical training, this presentationis expressed in the form of a technical sequence or procedure. As thetechnique is queued up to the thinking man, the immediate questionsshould include:How difficult, complicated, lengthy, and repeatable is thetechnique or procedure being shown?What time frames are involved to transfer this particularsequence to another so that they have competency with it?How does this stack up with what I already know tobe true or useful?Is this better or worse that what I am currently utilizingto solve the situation?In other cases, nobody told you or showed you anything, in the course of the presentation of life youwere thrust into an unfamiliar situation and you lived to tell the tale. You have new experience.You know the proverb, “Good judgment comes from experience, experience comes from bad judgment”.When someone tries to convince you that this is “intuitive” and that is not, your first counter questionshould be, “For whom? A 2-year old, an “average” person, or a physically fit / intelligent / diligent /constantly training with a view to improve / combat experienced individual?”To say that sets of techniques which have been validated in actual combat are intuitive or not intuitive forany given population is stating too much. There are quite a few valid approaches that achieve the desiredeffect. It has been my experience that folks who claim they are the only ones who have cracked the codeare usually full of bovine excrement.A more valid statement would be, “I disagree with the following approach because of A, B, and C.I have found in my personal experience that….D, E, and F are more effective because…”

Experience, Intuition, & Techniques 8Creating a motivating environment is exceptionally important.Can you do what you want your audience to do?Can you step up and demonstrate on demand? If you can’t, I would stop right there and find somebodywho can! The ability to tell and show as opposed to just tell is the difference between night and day.Assess the resources required to achieve those objectives and ultimately accomplish the goals.What is available? I.E. Internal expertise/instructors, facilities, expendables, and the all-important componentof time required for initial competency and maintained competency of those technical skills andknowledge.Pour all this into the blender and assess the realistic probabilities of getting to the desired destination.If you cannot achieve the goal, then the harsh reality of “I can’t get there from here” sets in. You canfight/lobby for more resources, look for a better use of the allotted time to still achieve the goal,or reassess your goals and expectations.That being said, fight and fight hard internally and externally to keep your goals and expectations high.Do not give up easily.In larger organizations, if you can effect a small degree of change you have accomplished something.Overtime that new trajectory you created will pay dividends.It’s a process that lives and breathes if you will. You should maintain a student’s attitude your whole life,or much will pass you by. That being said, you should be sensibly critical, but not overly hostile, to newideas. Let your mind meditate on them until they either become workable or irreconcilable.For the ones you keep, be willing to let them go if a simpler, more reliable one can take its place.Maybe the new concept or technique is an augmentation of something else that is fairly solidified.In conclusion, your repertoire and your responses are shaped, expanded and contracted by constanttraining and personal experience in the environment you work in. They change over time.The argument that we should only do what is initially intuitive and easy falls so desperately short of anysound reason.Techniques are neither “intuitive” nor “counter-intuitive” in and of themselves. They have context andlife within framework of human perception and capability.They are useful or non-useful, validated or invalidated by a completely different set of criteriavarying from individual to individual, from group to group, and from mission to mission.Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise!

References:Gary Klien, “Intuition at Work” by Gary Klein, Currency; 1st edition (December 24, 2002), ISBN-10: 0385502885Malcom Gladwell, “Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking”, Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (January 11, 2005),ISBN-10: 0316172324John Giduck , “Terror at Beslan: A Russian Tragedy with Lessons for American Schools”, Archangel Group, March 2005,ISBN-10: 0976775301Ken Good, “Who is Training Whom?”, See: http://www.strategosintl.com/pdfs/Who-is-Training-Who.pdfLt. Jim Glennon, “Intuition on the Street: Harnessing the Power of the Sixth Sense”http://www.policeone.com/health-fitness/articles/1639260/I would like to personally thank Sgt. Chuck Haggard of Topeka Police Department for his support in the preparation of this article.His personal experience training policeofficers served as an excellent feedback and verification sounding board as I am always checking mysanity.Additionally, I would like to thank Anthony Semone PhD for reviewing my writing and offering his powerful and insightful perspective onthings. Dr. Semone has amassed considerable education, experience and training within a broad range of psychological disciplines. In doingso, he has afforded himself the ability to work within the fields of Forensic Psychology, Clinical Neuropsychology, Clinical Psychology, andPolice Psychology.